[00:00:00] Dr. Katie Deming MD: Do you have questions about my approach to cancer treatment and prevention? Then get ready for an insightful Ask Me Anything session where I discuss topics like the pros and cons of biopsies, my thoughts on cancer screenings, and whether cancer is truly genetic. We'll also touch on the emotional journey that comes with a cancer diagnosis.

[00:00:20] Dr. Katie Deming MD: On this special episode, I'm joined by my team member and friend, Jess Babico. Now, some of my views probably challenge what you've heard from a Western medicine perspective. That's why it's important to gather information from various sources and make your own decisions about your health.

[00:00:36] Dr. Katie Deming MD: I plan to do more of these sessions in the future. please send us your questions over Instagram. So grab a cup of structured water or tea and join us as we explore a holistic perspective on cancer care. You might just discover something new about your own path to wellness.

[00:00:52] Dr. Katie Deming MD: Today we are having a special episode called Ask Me Anything and I have just Bubba Ko here with me who is going to ask me the questions and then also facilitate a conversation about these questions that have come up from listeners from the podcast and also we've had some questions also on Instagram.

[00:01:54] Dr. Katie Deming MD: So, let's I wanted to do some of these episodes so that we can make sure we're getting your questions answered. So Jess, you want to start us off?

[00:02:03] Jess Bubbico: Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me here.okay. So the first question is what is your opinion on biopsies?

[00:02:10] Dr. Katie Deming MD: Yeah. So this one is interesting because right in the Western medicine space is like, well, of course you're going to do a biopsy. Like why would you even be having this conversation? But reason why this question is coming up is because there are, people in the More holistic space who believe that cancer is basically an accumulation of, you know, toxins or abnormal cells.

[00:02:37] Dr. Katie Deming MD: There's actually a couple of different people are different theories on this, but basically that it's our body's way of encapsulating things that are problematic for the body. Yeah. And that you're basically have this contained system that if you put a needle in it, then it's potentially going to release the contents of this trash, for a better word, that your body has encapsulated and to have it spread.

[00:03:07] Dr. Katie Deming MD: Okay. And from the Western medicine perspective, let's just take breast cancer as an example. So the idea of biopsying a breast tumor, most Western doctors would say that's not true. That biopsying a breast cancer doesn't seed anything else. There's, you know, no risk of spreading the cancer from that biopsy, but there are certain types of cancer within Western medicine space where they will say it's problematic.

[00:03:35] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And actually sarcoma is an example of that, where if they go in and they do a biopsy, there is data showing that you can seed the track. And then if you're going to have it removed, you need to make sure you remove that track because there can be skeet seeding. So. Within Western medicine, even though most of the time they'll say, this is not an issue.

[00:03:56] Dr. Katie Deming MD: There are some cases where they say, yeah, maybe, you know, doing a biopsy has the potential to be seeding another area, but in terms of like generally this idea. So this is a question that's coming up a lot, because if you think that cancer is this packaging of trash and that Putting a needle is potentially going to make it spread.

[00:04:18] Dr. Katie Deming MD: We don't have good data to say that that actually happens, but I think this is something that for me personally, I say this all the time on the podcast, like. I don't know what is best for your body. And so I always tell people, trust your intuition of what feels right for you. And a lot of my clients decide that they want to have a biopsy because they want to know for sure is this cancer and have that information.

[00:04:50] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And I don't want them to be afraid that, Oh my gosh, if I do that now, I've ruined everything. And this is basically making it spread because I don't have clear data to say that that's the case. And then I also have, you know, other clients who are like, I don't want to biopsy. And I, I, I, this is a decision that I'm making and I also respect that.

[00:05:13] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And so I don't want people to think I'm like, just, uh, wishy washy in this way, but I really don't think that it's black and white. And I really believe that it's a personal opinion. a decision that each person needs to make. And if you feel like having that biopsy, having that information is really important for you to make decisions, I think you do it and you don't worry about it.

[00:05:38] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And then if you don't want to do it and it doesn't feel right intuitively, you follow that guidance and you are comfortable with that. And I think this is part of the thing that I, find myself challenged with in the space of cancer is there are so many opinions of people saying this is absolutely correct.

[00:05:59] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And this is absolutely not correct. And I will tell you as a professional who has practiced oncology for 20 years now in the conventional space, you know, in the conventional space for 20 years. And then now outside, I don't even know what cancer is. Like I am finding that a lot of the things that I was taught were not correct And i'm still trying to figure it out.

[00:06:24] Dr. Katie Deming MD: So these people who tell you they know exactly what it is I don't believe them. I don't believe that anybody knows Really what's going on here. I have some theories and actually we're going to talk about that when we talk about a couple of the other questions, but I just want to say that when someone makes you feel bad for a decision that you've made, because they say they know.

[00:06:48] Dr. Katie Deming MD: What cancer is, I would question that I would question them more than I would question your intuition about what you feel is right for your body. And so that's my answer for what are my opinions about biopsies? And I don't know, like if I had a growth, I don't know if I personally would do a biopsy, you know, and that's the most honest thing that I can say to people is.

[00:07:12] Dr. Katie Deming MD: I'm not sure what I would do and that I would have to sit with, you know, what I would do. I think the things that you want to think about are what are you going to do with the information? Is it going to inform your decisions about what you do? Is it going to help? Is it going to stress you out? I think that all of those pieces you want to think about as you make a decision about whether a biopsy is right for you.

[00:07:38] Jess Bubbico: Yeah I as you were talking I was just thinking to myself It's so easy to want to look for the person that's going to give us a level of certainty when we find ourselves in a space of such uncertainty or facing an unknown, so I think that's great Yeah, some really great perspectives to consider.okay.

[00:07:56] Jess Bubbico: So what is your opinion on screening for cancer?

[00:08:00] Dr. Katie Deming MD: You know, I want to start this question with explaining that I'm qualified to answer this question that, you know, not only did I practice radiation oncology, but I also was on, you know, screening guideline committees for nationally, um, for breast cancer and for lung cancer. And so I understand the principles of screening.

[00:08:26] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And the idea is that. You screen a population for a condition and knowing that there's risks associated with the screening, right? So if you're screening with mammograms, there's a certain amount of radiation that is given and that by doing mammograms on, you know, 100, 000 women, you're going to have a certain percentage that can develop a cancer related to that screening mechanism.

[00:08:51] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And the idea behind screening is that you want to make sure That the benefits of the screening outweigh the potential risks of the screening, but that's on a population level, right? So you're not looking at you. Like if I was talking to you, Jess, about having a mammogram, the statistics and the risk benefits is like more at a population level for you.

[00:09:16] Dr. Katie Deming MD: you have screening mammograms and then you develop a cancer. That's 100 percent for you, right? But then there's all these other people that they may never develop anything from having those screenings. And so when you're looking at the risk benefits, it's looking at it from a population standpoint and what is the overall risk benefit to that group of people and not necessarily to the individual, but we need to make.

[00:09:41] Dr. Katie Deming MD: Decisions as individuals, right? And the, I think about the statistics of cancer today, as I think about screening. So I believed in screening. Like I was in charge of programs that did screening, you know? And so I I'll start by saying I have stopped. Doing any screening myself, but I have also completely changed my lifestyle.

[00:10:12] Dr. Katie Deming MD: I am not living the standard lifestyle that now results in one in two men and one in two women developing cancer in their lifetime. I think that when we have statistics like that of one in two men and one in three women getting cancer in their lifetime, then. Screening potentially can maybe catch people in an earlier stage of disease.

[00:10:36] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And that's the whole idea that you could catch something earlier. But you know, just over a hundred years ago, our rates of cancer were like one in 33 people would get it in their lifetime. And now we're at one or one out of two men or one out of three women. And so, If we can do the things with changing our lifestyle to get us back to that lower risk, then we don't need to be aggressively screening everyone.

[00:11:03] Dr. Katie Deming MD: But if you are living the traditional lifestyle, then, you know, I don't know, maybe screening makes sense, but I do think that there is a misconception about cancer, and that, We know that people who have, let's just say, prostate cancer, so low risk prostate cancer, You could detect that on screening, but it's never going to kill them.

[00:11:31] Dr. Katie Deming MD: It's maybe never going to cause problems, but you could subject someone to, you know, unnecessary distress from having the biopsies, having a diagnosis of cancer, then undergoing treatments that cause, you know, Impotence and urinary incontinence and like all kinds of ramifications of treatment of a disease that maybe was never going to cause problems in the first place.

[00:11:56] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And we know this is an issue specifically with prostate cancer, breast cancer. Switzerland came out with, you know, guidelines saying that they're not recommending mammograms, you know, for a reason. And so, I think I think that for me, the screening is coming from this astronomical rise in rates of cancer, and you know, I, I don't think that the doctors or the programs that are putting out screening are Trying to do anything but good.

[00:12:29] Dr. Katie Deming MD: But the problem is we're missing the point. The point is that we're getting sicker as a population and that we wouldn't need screening if we would start to change our lifestyle to. Become more healthy to be getting the nourishment that we need to make sure we detoxify ourselves And I mean basically you just need to listen to my podcast and I talk about all these things that we can be doing But since i've made those changes in my own life I have personally made the decision that I won't be doing mammograms that I won't be doing pap smears and i'm not saying that that is not something you should do I think this is a personal decision, but I think you need to think about how are you living?

[00:13:15] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And if you really want to lower your risk of getting cancer or you want to, you know, catch it earlier, whatever that is, the real way to do that is to start working on prevention and getting your health body healthy so that it's not conducive to growing cancer. And we know that the modern lifestyle. is making us more susceptible to that.

[00:13:38] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And so that actually ties into the second question after that was screening for cancer and mammograms. So that ties into the question about mammograms because mammograms are a screening, tool. So that's my, those are my thoughts on that.

[00:13:52] Jess Bubbico: Awesome. I was gonna, there were two questions I was going to actually follow up to this with, so it sounds like you kind of answered that first one, which is you referenced screening. If you have, you've changed your lifestyle, which is why you've chosen to stop doing screenings for yourself. And so it sounds like your six pillars.

[00:14:11] Jess Bubbico: that you talk about on the podcast could be a really great resource and reference for people to start maybe assessing their own lifestyle and how they're operating and maybe start to find some alternatives to how they can, work on that prevention piece. So,

[00:14:24] Dr. Katie Deming MD: absolutely. So in addition to all the free content that I have on the podcast, I have a workshop series called the six pillars of healing cancer, but it's basically also preventive. All of those pillars are related to how we just fortify our bodies to become healthy again. And so that workshop series.

[00:14:44] Dr. Katie Deming MD: which is just 198 is a great way for people to, if they wanted to know, okay, what, what should I do then if I don't want to screen and I want to change my lifestyle, what are the things that I can do? And that would be a great place to start for sure.

[00:14:58] Jess Bubbico: I think to the The way that the Western world kind of operates in the way that we look at success, maybe like traditional success in the way that we traditionally run our lives and the Western world, it might be interesting to, to go and listen to some of your podcasts or take that workshop series.

[00:15:14] Jess Bubbico: So people can actually really look at health from a completely different way that might be even different than what you've been taught in sort of the traditional, from the traditional Western perspective.

[00:15:25] Dr. Katie Deming MD: Absolutely.

[00:15:26] Jess Bubbico: We, you have a question here about, is cancer genetic, but I also want to say with your question, a question about screening, is there, I can see someone potentially saying, okay, yes.

[00:15:38] Jess Bubbico: And my mom had breast cancer or my dad had prostate cancer. Like, is there a recommendation potentially that if somebody has it. In their family line that they would want to. Potentially consider screening. Cause I think people talk about screening more when you have it in your family. and I think that also bodes the question of is cancer genetic.

[00:16:04] Dr. Katie Deming MD: Yeah. Okay. So that's a great question. So, start with is cancer genetic and kind of talk about that and then we can address for people who have known mutations or clear cancer running in their family. So, and you know, this actually is If you sign up for my, just on my website, I have a guide, uh, the, you know, three things that you need to know about cancer and I go into this about genetics, but most of us are taught in oncology that cancer is a genetic condition.

[00:16:39] Dr. Katie Deming MD: That, you know, DNA mutations are what lead to cancer and that those can be passed down in the family. But the truth is, is that only five to 10 percent of cancers are genetically related. 90 to 95 percent of them. are considered sporadic, meaning that there's not, it doesn't run in the family. It wasn't passed out, passed down, through heredity.

[00:17:04] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And so it's a very small proportion that is genetically related. So that's the first thing is like cancer. There is, there are some cancers that are genetically related, but the majority, the vast majority are not. And even when you have a family member who has. Breast cancer, let's say, so say you had an aunt who had breast cancer in her seventies and it was estrogen receptor positive.

[00:17:34] Dr. Katie Deming MD: It's very unlikely that that is a genetic thing. That's just the one in three women now, you know, developing cancer in their lifetime. It's more like if you have someone like with, let's just say with a BRCA mutations for breast cancer, ovarian cancer, it's like having young relatives, like a first or second.

[00:17:53] Dr. Katie Deming MD: a first degree relative, like a mother or a sister who had breast cancer in their 30s and 40s, younger than 50, or, having ovarian cancer in very young ages. So they tend to be younger, more aggressive cancers, not always, but generally. And so, you know, If you had that scenario, you know, oftentimes if you had, you know, first degree relatives who were diagnosed at a young age, oftentimes they're getting genetic testing.

[00:18:23] Dr. Katie Deming MD: So then they would know if they have a mutation. And if you have a known mutation in your family, then that's something that you can get tested for to know if you're predisposed to that. But even when you have the mutation, it's not 100 percent that you're going to get that condition and it comes back to the lifestyle, it comes back to the way that we're living.

[00:18:46] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And so even if someone has a genetic mutation, it is not a sure thing that you are going to get that type of cancer and there are a lot of things that you can be doing short of removing all your organs that, you know, could develop cancer. Mastectomies and ectomies for people with BRCA mutations. I'm not saying not to do that, I'm just saying there's a lot of things that you can do to lower your risk, even with a mutation.

[00:19:14] Dr. Katie Deming MD: so, and then, but I do think that screening makes more sense in that setting with someone who has a mutation and they're wanting to know, you know, I think that in that scenario. you know, especially if you're choosing not to do the aggressive surgeries to remove organs that may be at risk, you know, a more moderate approach is to make the lifestyle changes, do everything that you can.

[00:19:41] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And then maybe in that scenario, screening makes sense, right? Because the risk of developing that type of cancer is higher, but These are very small numbers. This is not the majority of people that I'm talking to on my podcast, but if you fall in that category, I absolutely understand, you know, doing screening under those circumstances to catch something earlier, if something were to develop.

[00:20:06] Dr. Katie Deming MD: So, yeah, and I don't, you know, and I think about that for myself. I'm like, I don't know if I had a BRCA mutation, would I be doing mammograms and MRIs and. I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. And so I think that it's just one of those things that, you know, making individual decisions and trusting your intuition, but it's not all or none.

[00:20:28] Dr. Katie Deming MD: Like when they tell you you have this mutation, so you have to have all these organs removed. Absolutely. I don't say that. I don't think that that is necessary. And then, but I think screening is kind of like a, you know, Intermediary in there is like maybe that'll give you some peace of mind, make you feel better.

[00:20:45] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And I think that you do what, what makes you feel comfortable and, you know, feels aligned for yourself.

[00:20:53] Jess Bubbico: Yeah. I'm going to do a little plug for you in this moment, because I feel like this is one of the important parts of having someone on your team. I know that through your work, you kind of act as some, a guide that somebody can come and talk to about their decisions. So I feel like having. I think it's important to have a neutral teammate on your team who can help you really process through, especially, you know, you had mentioned, it's not when you, when someone potentially gets a cancer diagnosis, you're not just dealing with just the cancer diagnosis, you're dealing with potentially how family members might feel, or what doctors might be saying, or what you may be read or heard as you're searching through literature.

[00:21:33] Jess Bubbico: So, I think. I think it's really important to have somebody on your team who can support you and guide you and act as that neutral guide when emotions might be rising or fear or confusion to come back to yourself is really important because like you've said many times, like it depends, you know, there's not necessarily a clear cut answer.

[00:21:51] Dr. Katie Deming MD: Yeah. Well, and that is, so in my consults, you know, I really, kind of do three things when I see people one on one. One is this, you know, decision support, like coming alongside you. I have the medical background. I can help you make sense of the statistics that your doctor has given you. I can also give, you know, alternative perspectives and just help you make sense of those things.

[00:22:17] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And then put it into context of your lifestyle, your values, what's important for you so that you can make the best decision. so that is part of what I do. And if that, you know, if someone feels like they want. more personalized guidance on the decisions that they need to make. Absolutely. That's something that I love to do.

[00:22:38] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And it's, you know, it's a privilege to help people navigate through some of these decisions because they're, they're not easy and they're not clear cut, you know, and it, like you said, it depends.

[00:22:48] Jess Bubbico: Yeah. I have a question that's, that's not on our Q& A question, but what are some of the common things that you see someone ha see happen to happen within someone when they are going from a Not having a cancer diagnosis to having a cancer diagnosis, meaning like emotionally, do you ever find that there can be like an outsourcing of decision making or like, and, and what do you see happen through that cancer journey around like people pulling their power back, having to learn to make decisions for themselves?

[00:23:26] Jess Bubbico: Like, what are some of the common emotional things that you see happen when people receive a diagnosis?

[00:23:32] Dr. Katie Deming MD: Yeah. Well, I think the number one fear comes up for everyone because of just the, the whole, um, itself is such a loaded word in our society and that it's Many people's biggest fear. Uh, and then also they think that that means like, Oh, I'm going to die. And so there's just a lot of fear that comes up, which I think is just normal given everything that surrounds cancer.

[00:24:03] Dr. Katie Deming MD: But the other thing that, that comes up for people is there are dynamics that develop within your like nucleus of whether it's your family or your close supporters, the people who are closest to you that you share. about the diagnosis. Oftentimes there are differing opinions about what you should do.

[00:24:27] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And so I, I see this quite often where there's someone who has had a diagnosis of cancer themselves and they feel quite clear in their own knowing of what's best for their body. And maybe it's different than what the doctor has recommended. But they have a family member who's like, why would you not just do what the doctor recommends?

[00:24:53] Dr. Katie Deming MD: Like I hear you that you feel like this is not right for you, but this is not the time to just like go with your intuition. Like we should just do what the doctors say. And it can, Be really challenging for people to get clear for themselves when they have differing opinions. And actually you might have like one family member who's, you know, out at often one direction, another one in the other direction and in pulling equally.

[00:25:19] Dr. Katie Deming MD: I mean, sometimes people are like, don't do anything. Those doctors say like I wouldn't walk in a medical office if you like paid me, you know? And so there can be this, Like pulling. And so, I think, you know, this is another place where for me with my clients is like, I come in as like a neutral person to, I am.

[00:25:40] Dr. Katie Deming MD: With you, whatever that means, you know, and I, and also help you tease apart. What are the pieces that are coming from within you? And what are the pieces that you're feeling influenced from the outside? And, and also it's important, like the people that we love, they, they want us around, so oftentimes these dynamics are not out of a place of, you know, Malice or anything like they love you.

[00:26:06] Dr. Katie Deming MD: They want you to be around. So they, they are, you know, They have their own fear, right? And so I think the big thing is it's quite common for the decision making process to be a little bit Confusing with other people's ideas and thoughts in there and then also the doctors, you know The doctors can say something the the treatment regimens are quite protocolized where it's like you have this type of cancer with this receptor status and this, you know, blah, blah, blah, this stage.

[00:26:36] Dr. Katie Deming MD: It's like, you're getting this treatment. Like this is the algorithm and the doctors, that's how we're trained to practice. Right. And the guidelines, like that's actually, you know, what we're, judged against in like the standard of care. but. If that doesn't feel right to you, that also having the doctor who is an expert, right?

[00:26:57] Dr. Katie Deming MD: He's like, this is all they do. And then, but your intuition is saying, no, that also can like, you know, unnerve you. And so it's just, it just recognizing that your, power comes from within and that you want to make the decisions out of, information like accurate information and clarity and groundedness and not out of a place of fear.

[00:27:23] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And the one thing that I see a lot of people do is they make decisions or like, well, rather than fighting with my husband about this and like whatever, and also if I don't do the treatment and then it comes back, then I'm going to be like, You know, upset that I didn't do it. So it's just easier just to do it.

[00:27:40] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And like, that's the path of least resistance, but these are really big decisions and they have long term consequences on your body. And I see it after the fact, people. regretting doing something because a family member wanted them to do it. And that's what I don't want is I want you to make the decision so that down the road, you're like, you know what?

[00:28:07] Dr. Katie Deming MD: It was a hard decision and I really struggled with it, but I know that That I made the decision aligned with my values and what was important for me. And so I think that's the part of like bringing back our power. And sometimes that requires standing up to the people that you love or your doctor and saying, I understand how you feel and I understand what you're saying and that does, that's not the right path for me.

[00:28:32] Jess Bubbico: yeah, I love that and I love the, I think something that's kind of coming to my mind as you're talking, and I think you're probably the first doctor that I've like actually known and had a connect, like a personal connection with besides, you know, my OBGYN that I loved when I would go see her once a year.

[00:28:50] Jess Bubbico: But I think there's an element of like, your doctor is human. You know, like it's, it's easy, I think, as a patient to walk into a room and say, well, this doctor knows everything. but you're, you're doctor is a human on the other side of you as well. And, you know, if you look at medicine, medicine has changed a lot over the last, 100 years.

[00:29:15] Jess Bubbico: You know, we're not giving the same treatments that we even probably gave five years ago because we have trials and we learn and we evolve and things change and they go, okay, well that didn't work the way that we thought it did. So I think it's also important to remember on the other side that while it might seem like.

[00:29:31] Jess Bubbico: You know, the word of the Lord. Amen. This is, this is the one and only. If your body's telling you something like medicine or doctors, like they're also not infallible either at the same time. So.

[00:29:44] Dr. Katie Deming MD: Yeah. And they've been trained into a very specific system because you could see one doctor who's trained in Western medicine and they would say one thing. And then you'd see someone, a naturopath who's trained in a completely different system. And they're going to tell you two totally different things. So for these episodes, we wanted to keep them about 30 minutes. We're at 30 minutes. So what we will do is we will definitely do another one. more questions actually that we will come to, but, um, please, if you have questions for me that you want to, submit, you can, you know, submit them through, uh, Instagram or even on Facebook and also on the podcast we have a place where you can put, it's called fan mail.

[00:30:29] Dr. Katie Deming MD: Basically you can, submit questions there and I am going to be doing these episodes regularly to answer your questions in the best way that I can. So thank you everyone for being here and thank you Jess so much for being here with me for this episode.

[00:30:46] Jess Bubbico: Absolutely. Thank you.